LOS ANGELES -- Sometimes the vital struggle for peace and stability is too important to be left to civilian "experts," especially when there are exceptional generals to help save nations from disaster. That was patently the case after Japan's crushing World War II defeat: The Japanese certainly benefited from Gen. Douglas MacArthur as their transition governor. Later, a triumphant America derived a sense of sensible-shoes steadiness from the Asian-like serenity of President Dwight Eisenhower, the brains behind the allied victory, who as president took a very dim view indeed of military adventurism.

Indeed, when genius generals take off their uniforms and rejoin the secular world, good things often happen. That was certainly the nostalgic story line Oct. 27 in New York City when a huge dinner crowd feted the memory of Yitzhak Rabin -- a moving annual event aided and abetted by former President Bill Clinton and CNN's Larry King, America's new toastmaster general (and both were at the top of their form).

In 1967, Rabin was the brilliant Israeli chief of staff who sensed the gathering clouds of war and masterminded the pre-emptive strike that smashed Israel's enemies before they ever knew what hit them. Yet, just one year later -- rewarded with the ambassadorship to Washington -- the once-hawk was arguing that Israel should withdraw from all of the Arab territories it won during the war in return for peace.